Position Type: FTE
Location: Lexington County, SC or surrounding area
Position Overview
SCIMHA is seeking a Community Coordinator to support Safe Babies Court (SBC) in Lexington, a collaborative initiative serving infants, toddlers, and families involved in the child welfare system. SBC brings together judicial leaders, child welfare professionals, service providers, and community partners to improve outcomes for young children and strengthen family well-being.
This remote position requires residence in Lexington County or the surrounding area and regular local travel to attend court hearings, facilitate meetings, engage families and partners, and participate in community activities. Familiarity with Lexington County resources and service systems is preferred.
The Community Coordinator serves as the local lead for SBC implementation, fostering cross-system collaboration, family engagement, and continuous quality improvement to support fidelity to the SBC model and advance family well-being, permanency, and healthy early childhood development.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Program Leadership & Systems Implementation
- Serves alongside local DSS and judicial leadership to guide implementation, growth, and sustainability of the Lexington Safe Babies Court Team.
- Supports fidelity to SBC core components and best practices as outlined in SBC State and Site Case Maps.
- Leads and supports stakeholders to embed infant and early childhood development and mental health principles into collaborative work, ensuring decisions consistently center what is best for babies and their families as core to Safe Babies Court best practice.
- Identifies opportunities to strengthen local systems and remove barriers that impact outcomes for young children and families.
- Participates in statewide SBC implementation activities and collaborates with Community Coordinators across South Carolina to promote consistency and shared learning.
Family & Community Engagement
- Engages families early in the SBC process to ensure their perspectives inform decision-making and program implementation.
- Promotes a family-centered, strengths-based approach that elevates family voice and partnership.
- Develops and maintains relationships with community providers to expand access to services and supports.
- Identifies and addresses barriers to service access through creative problem-solving and community collaboration.
Community Capacity Building & Training
- Assesses community training and technical assistance needs and coordinates educational opportunities with SCIMHA and local experts.
- Remains current on research, policy, and emerging best practices and disseminates relevant information to partners.
- Represents SBC in community initiatives aligned with the mission of improving outcomes for young children and families.
Active Community Team (ACT) Leadership
- Recruits and engages diverse community partners to participate in the Active Community Team (ACT), a multidisciplinary group focused on identifying and addressing systemic barriers impacting families.
- Convenes and facilitates monthly ACT meetings to develop collaborative strategies that strengthen community supports and improve family outcomes.
- Uses collective impact principles to advance systems-level solutions and community accountability.
Data, Evaluation & Continuous Quality Improvement
- Works with program leaders to support continuous quality improvement efforts by collecting, analyzing, and interpreting program data.
- Maintains accurate and timely data entry and documentation in SBC databases and reporting systems.
- Communicates data trends to local team and facilitates strategic planning for ongoing quality improvement
- Collaborates with local and statewide partners to evaluate outcomes and strengthen implementation practices.
Skills, Knowledge, and Experience
- Experience facilitating community collaboration to effect systems change
- Experience planning and facilitating multidisciplinary team meetings
- Ability to work and make decisions independently
- Knowledge of issues related to child abuse and neglect
- Knowledge of juvenile and family court functioning
- Knowledge of the social determinants of health and local resources available to assist families in making connections to achieve them
- Working knowledge of early child development and infant mental health
- Knowledge of protective factors and how to incorporate them in community capacity building and case planning
- Experience working with people of diverse educational, professional, socioeconomic, and ethnic backgrounds
- Ability to work effectively across agencies and disciplines
- Minimum 5 years of professional experience focused on services for vulnerable young children and their families
Preferred
- In-depth knowledge of infant/toddler social-emotional development and the impact of abuse and neglect
- Working knowledge of local, state, and federal child welfare policies, practices, and laws
- Experience working with juvenile and family court judges
- Skills in collecting and interpreting data
- Experience in creating and conducting presentations for large groups of professionals
- Prior program development experience
Essential Qualities
- Encourages and practices critical thinking
- Is self-reflective and empathic
- Is committed to remaining current on research and best practice standards
- Recognizes the influence of workplace relationships on outcomes and results
- Maintains a respectful and accepting approach to others
- Awareness of the influence of the larger context on individual behavior
- Collaboratively and creatively supports the work efforts of families and colleagues at all levels
- Is resourceful and motivated
Education
- Bachelor's degree in social work, child development, psychology, public health, education, or a related field required. Master's degree strongly preferred.
SCIMHA Values:
- We are relationship focused.
- We are committed to reflective practice.
- We advocate for fairness and opportunity for all children and their families.
- We are dedicated to continuous improvement and learning.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $52,000.00 - $58,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Location:
- Lexington County, SC (Preferred)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Lexington County, SC
